Transforming Healthcare Technologies with Wearable, Implantable, and Ingestible Biosensors and Digital Health

Remote monitoring and ubiquitous digital health systems are becoming pervasive among patients and healthcare practitioners. With the explosion of the amount of digital data from such systems, and the ability to analyze and glean insights at large scales, there is substantial demand for innovative sensor technology that would be unobtrusive, highly precise, and easy to use. Digital health systems can provide vital information to healthcare professionals when critical clinical events occur. Accurate and high signal-to-noise ratio measurements are indispensable in this regard. As a secondary yet essential attribute, ease of use is necessary for such systems, especially for unskilled or elderly patients. Ultimately, whether critical or chronic monitoring, the intended clinical application will drive the requirement for different sensor technologies and biosensors’ embodiments in medical devices. Wearable, implantable, or ingestible biosensors accordingly serve applications requiring different combinations of a trade-off between accurate and timely monitoring and long-term ease of use. This chapter describes the diseases that have the most critical need for innovation in biosensor systems, the essential components required for such systems, and how they are integrated into healthcare service delivery. It will further describe the types of considerations needed as we transition from designing wearable to ingestible and finally implantable biosensors in the order of their potential risk of harm to the patient. Finally, it explains the intricacies of an end-to-end solution that includes devices, data integration, and analytical capabilities needed to transform healthcare technology.